Iarnród Éireann has confirmed it is scrapping a new timetable for train services around Dublin’s commuter belt due to problems with delays and congestion, with many services reverting to their original timetable.
Irish Rail apologised for the “enormous disruption” it said the changes caused for commuters and said while it got the timetable wrong it is confident the move will prevent further issues.
Packed platforms, congested carriages and delayed DARTs and trains were just some of the complaints by commuters since a new timetable for the Dublin area was introduced six weeks ago
The changes came into place on 26 August to facilitate extra Intercity services and an hourly train between Dublin and Belfast
Two weeks later, Irish Rail announced changes to the new timetable but that did not fix the problems, particularly in the morning.
“Within the last month, things have just gone from the bizarre to the ridiculous.”
Alan Buckley, who commutes from Killester on Dublin’s northside to the city centre, said hundreds of people have been left waiting on the platforms in his local station because delayed DARTs have been arriving packed to capacity
“Within the last month, things have just gone from the bizarre to the ridiculous. You literally are in a situation nearly every morning where you have to decide to cram yourself onto a DART or, in theory, wait 10 to 12 minutes for the next one.
“The DARTs are showing up. They’re already full. Some of the DARTs are very, very short – there’s only three or four carriages in some cases,” he said.
“Hundreds of people at each platform are not getting on and not being able to board the trains.”
Today the operator announced a third schedule change in less than two months saying that many services would revert to their original timetables, with some minor changes to facilitate newer services.
The details of the new timetable will be published next Monday 7 October and will come into effect the following Monday 14 Octobers.
Barry Kenny, Corporate Communications Manager with Iarnród Éireann said it was sorry for the disruption it had caused to customers and had listened to their feedback.
“We got this timetable change wrong. It did impact hugely on daily commuters, on their work, education, childcare. We are very sorry for that.
“That’s why we are making these changes, and going back to the pattern people would have known before. We believe that this will address the issues that our customers have had”
“We are making very significant changes from Monday week. Essentially, the morning timetable will revert to the same pattern of the old timetable with some minor time changes to accommodate our Intercity and Belfast services,” he said.
“That will mean that the large gap in the northern commuter service will be bridged. It means the trains that we started terminating at Connolly from late August will now continue further south to Pearse, Grand Canal Dock and Bray, restoring those travel patterns with some minor time changes that the customers will have been used to in the past.”
Mr Kenny also said that the additional services to Belfast will remain but that their times will change
“We will still be operating the additional Belfast services. We’ve worked with TransLink in Northern Ireland to get these new changes in.
“It will mean some slightly longer journey times and some time changes on the Belfast route. Things like the extra Galway and Waterford services we introduced, which have been working well, they will obviously continue.”
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“We still have a very busy infrastructure. There’s no getting past that we have a lot of trains coming into a very narrow piece of infrastructure. That’s why we’re investing for the long term,” Mr Kenny said.
“But right now, we have to make changes to give that reliability and predictability back to our customers, and we look forward to introducing those changes.”
Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland said the disruption caused by the timetable changes was the worst he has seen in his time commuting and that while reverting to the original schedules may help ease the problem, overcrowding on services was likely to remain an issue
“It will help in terms of commuters who have built up patterns – employment patterns, childcare patterns, education patterns – around the timetable.
“Going back to something they know is going to be helpful and that does provide more cross-city journeys, which people have come to rely on. It is what people know. It’s not perfect.
“The timetable is not perfect at all, but it does address one of the key concerns of customers is they want to go across cities.”
“Passenger numbers are up. This year will break the record of 51 million passengers.
“Demand is increasing. Long-distance commuting is also increasing. People are returning to work. People are commuting further and further distances to go to education, so the system is under increasing pressure.
“A robust timetable will help, but overcrowding and delays related to overcrowding are going to continue, sadly, for some time to come.”
